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User blog:John threll/Why the movie failed IMHO
Oh Boy, this is a very touchy subject as so many people were waiting for this, and so many people were let down... I checked the Box office results last weekend for the opening of Jem and the Holograms, and it's reviews, and to say it's a disaster is putting it mildly. While it opened in 2,413 theaters, which is not bad, but not as good as normal blockbuster movies where it opens in 3,500+ theaters, it opened in 15th place in the Box office ratings, with a total of $1,375, 320. The rating i quote from Wikipedia: "On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 22%, based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's consensus reads, "Jem and the Holograms ignores its source material's goofy charm in favor of bland by-the-numbers drama."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jem_and_the_Holograms_%28film%29#cite_note-35Metacritic gives the film a score of 44 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews" On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Geoff Berkshire of Variety praised Peeples' performance as Jem, noting that she "keeps the film watchable", as well as Lewis as "a nonsensical bitch-on-wheels caricature with offbeat line readings and live-wire energy", and noted that "a generally unremarkable tech package" - cinematography, sound, costuming & makeup, etc. - "at least provides a modest showcase for costume designer Soyon An, makeup head Mary Klimek and hairstylist Vanessa Price, who come the closest to channeling the vibrant spirit of the “Jem” cartoons that originally made fans fall in love." Now, overall i would say bad to mixed at best by what the reviewers said, but the totals say differently, but there is a catch, the budget of the film overall was 5 million dollars, meaning Hollywood did not want to invest much in this project to begin with, and were not expecting much to begin with, and with only opening in as few theaters as it did, they were not expecting much profit from it either, so anyway you look at it, between the fans responding negatively as so much was revealed as they were working on it, and how Hollywood did not want this really in the first place as 5 million dollars is nothing, and is only a drop in the bucket compared to the other hasbro 80's properties like Transformers ($147 million) and G.I. Joe ($175 million). With only five million dollars, compared to 147 or 175 million, that is why so many things were left out, so many things were done as they were, and why overall the movie flopped is because it was designed to fail, unlike the other 80's remakes, as much as we all wanted Jem to succeed so bad like Transformers and G.I Joe. IMHO, Jem failed because of the one reason that I personally find so old school, so childish, and so maddening, is because of the old school reason that has always been under the radar, Hollywood did not want a movie about female empowerment and successful female role models having control and being in charge in a still male dominated society, which is exactly what Jem promotes from the 80's, and why it always was the reason it was close to peoples hearts, equality! (and why Eric became Erica, who wants to see a successful businessman made an ass out of in today's society of the 1% rules as much as i always loved seeing Eric eat crow). While granted it is only a theory, it is the most logical theory that fits all of the points right now, as the thought of a successful business woman like Jerrica Benton, or a rock star like Jem, teaching girls to have self confidence, to think for themselves, and to empower themselves, those are exactly the opposite messages many in the red states are pushing for, thus a cartoon, and movie like this would be dangerous for them, and it is also dangerous for the corporations as well, because most of their votes come from those people who vote like that, and if they lose those votes, they lose their power, so they have to keep their power base happy, and support that on the surface as well, while the rest of us can and want messages like Jem has (especially me, as it is well recieved by me for my daughter, and for women's rights overall, as we need it badly for this country). So those CEO's, who know Hollywood executives, put pressure on them to make sure something like this fails, and in turn, the people pushing for this get the green light, but are told you only get this much, and that is it, where they were expecting a much higher budget, as you cannot have a killer holograms vs misfits battle on 5 million with today's budgets unless you do some serious cost cutting and miracles, but it just cannot be done without looking like birdemic in today's terms of quality actresses, equipment, effects, and to get a decent location that does not look like an abandoned warehouse with walmart special lights and 15 people jumping up and down pretending to be a full stadium, or rented houses and offices in a run down section of town. While like i said, this is my theory, for one hypothesis, it is the only one i can see at the moment, and when i get a chance in the next few days, i will check out the movie myself to see how bad or good it is now that i have enough to see it, and add my opinion later, but with the facts i have right now, this is the most logical assumtion i can estimate at this time, and i would like to hear everyone else's opinions too, as we all have different opinions. (My apologies if i was offending in anyway, and be careful of spoilers) Category:Blog posts